Global South Anglican

COMING BACK from a fortnight in China at the beginning of this week, into the middle of what felt like a general panic about the role of religion in society, had a slightly surreal feel to it. The proverbial visitor from Mars might have imagined that the greatest immediate threat to British society was religious war, fomented by “faith schools”, cheered on by thousands of veiled women and the Bishops’ Benches in the House of Lords. Commentators were solemnly asking if it were not time for Britain to become a properly secular society.

The following address was given by Bishop Robert Duncan on the occasion of his receipt of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Nashotah House. A long but helpful read.

“...In fact I’ve learned to value the Anglican Communion more than ever. Archbishop Chew has been with us in the last two or three days, and he has underlined for me the importance of the Communion and the way in which the mere fact of the Anglican Communion opens doors in East Asia and elsewhere. I think the Anglican Communion is a very important thing indeed, and I want to see it strengthened, not weakened.”

Stephen Crittenden from ABC Radio National speaks to Archbishop Peter Jensen about the 2006 Synod, the Global South and what Jensen calls ‘the deep rift in Anglican Communion’.

“We would be foolish to think we will play a major role, but we would be equally foolish to think we would not involved at all.” - Abp Peter Jensen

At the ‘Seek the Welfare of the City’ conference held in Singapore in August 2005, Archbishop Chew says Chinese leaders saw that Christianity could be significant for its society and citizens, on the condition that Christianity, as seen in the papers which captured the early first century of Christianity and expressed as such, could be appreciated and welcomed as contributing to the social development and well being of Chinese society. “The Chinese leaders were happy and encouraged to see that the Christian church saw the welfare of the city as a priority,” he says.

What part are we to play? We must be peaceable and reconciling; I do not doubt that. We must cherish unity with our fellow Christians at the highest level possible; I do not doubt that. We must pray and work for the unity of the Communion; I do not doubt that. We must be concerned for and pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury; I do not doubt that. We must pray for and work for the unity of the Anglican Church of Australia; I do not doubt that. But there is no short cut to such unity…

God is determined to be the servant of this nation – to meet its true needs and to make his justice flourish. I pray that his church here may walk with him towards that justice and that peace. This will be my prayer and this will be the prayer of all of us who have been your guests in China. And I ask for your prayers for all of us as we go back to a country where we face the same problems about identification and freedom and cooperation and peace.

See also:

- A Press Conference given in Beijing on 22 October

- The Archbishop Williams’ earlier sermon “China emerging as senior partner in the fellowship of nation.”

Finally, we believe that hope for the Anglican Communion is dependent on the Church worldwide earnestly seeking a deep work of the Holy Spirit that will lead to repentance, forgiveness, revival, and healing. We should work for a Church characterised by justice and compassion that strives to be a sanctuary of care where the truth can be told with love. Only then will we be able to meet the challenge to walk together in a way that honours the name of Christ whom we seek to serve, and witness to his reconciling love in a hurting and fragmented world.

Put this way, it is clear that the Bishop of New Westminster is not ‘in fact’ exercising proper ‘jurisdiction’ over his Diocese! He is neither guarding nor promoting Christian doctrine nor ensuring the standards of orthodoxy among his clergy; he is not exercising discipline in a way that coheres with the above; and he is certainly not proving either a focus of unity or a representative of unity within the larger church and Communion.